SHELTON -- The allure of higher office is once again beckoning Shelton's mayor of two decades, Mark Lauretti, who could join an already crowded field of presumptive Republican challengers in next year's gubernatorial race.

"I've been discussing it with some people," Lauretti told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers on Monday.

Despite a published report over the weekend that he will seek the GOP nomination, Lauretti said he had not made a formal decision.

Lauretti, 58, cruised to an 11th term as mayor in 2011, capturing 65 percent of the votes in a rematch of the 2009 election against challenger Chris Jones. It is unclear if Lauretti, who was first elected in 1991, will seek a 12th mayoral term this November.

"We do not want him to go and will not let him go," said Anglace, adding he personally hasn't heard anything from the mayor about running for governor.

Multiple Republicans are testing the waters for a challenge against first-term Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Public opinion polls show he faces a tough re-election campaign in 2014.

Candidates include Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, state Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, and Tom Foley, former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, who lost to Malloy by 6,500 votes in 2010.

Twice before Lauretti has flirted with leaving his comfort zone of Shelton.

In 2010, he started a petition drive to get on the Republican ballot for governor, only to suspend his candidacy because of a federal corruption probe in his city that led to the imprisonment of two local developers and Shelton's former building inspector.

No charges were filed against Lauretti, who has maintained his innocence throughout the scandal.

Tom Carson, a Justice Department spokesman based in New Haven, declined to comment on the status of the corruption probe involving the city of Shelton.

Last year Lauretti briefly entertained a run for Congress against U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.

An ethics complaint against Lauretti over a townhouse project on a property owned by the mayor was recently thrown out.